The creatures were so close now they were visible in the soft light given off by Ted and Gab’s weapons. Thick ropey strands of drool ran from their wide, tooth-filled maws as they hurtled toward their prey, scrambling on all fours like charging gorillas.
The foremost rank of creatures hurled into the two warriors with a ferocity that belied their small stature. Josh cut two of the grey-skinned creatures down in mid-flight with his great sword. Chuck smashed one aside with his shield and pierced the other with his longsword, the creature’s momentum so great the blade ran clean through it and impaled one of its kin behind it.
Ted finally ended his chant with a loud crescendo, and a thick wall of ice sprang up just before them and crushed several of the vile creatures against the rocky ceiling of the cave. One creature was trapped within the thick ice in mid leap, its ugly head exposed on their side of the ice wall and unable to breathe due to the constriction of the ice that trapped its body. Josh and Chuck quickly cut down the few creatures that managed reach them before the wall of ice formed and blocked off the charging monsters.
Blood ran down Josh’s face where one creature’s claws had gouged furrows in his right cheek but fortunately missed the eye. Chuck had a similar wound across his thigh where the sharp claws tore through his thick leggings between the steel plates protecting his legs.
“How long will that hold them?” Josh asked Ted as he wiped his hand across his face and saw that it came away bloody.
“I believe the spell will last about half an hour in this cold climate,” Ted answered with his best guess.
“All right then, let’s put some distance between us before they claw their way through or it disappears.”
The group could see the creatures clawing frantically at the two-foot thick wall of ice and were managing to make rather deep gouges in its near rock-hard surface.
The group trudged down the rocky corridor once more, too exhausted to run. They prayed fervently that the ice wall would hold the creatures at bay long enough for them to find an exit. The possibility of losing their pursuers in the twisting caverns was remote. The creatures seemed to have extraordinary hearing, and possibly a keen sense of smell with which to track them down. These caves were also their home, and they knew them intimately. Their only hope of survival was to find an exit, and soon.
“They’re probably through the wall now,” Ted informed them.
“Do you think maybe they have given up?” Gabe asked hopefully.
Phil shook his head. “I doubt it. Those things were pretty darn fanatical about catching us.”
“Maybe if we left some of our food behind, they would eat that and leave us alone?” Gabe offered hopefully.
“Hm, some dried out beef and fruit, or a nice, plump, and juicy, slow-moving fat kid. Let me think,” Chase teased.
“Hey, I’m keeping up, and I have lost weight since this started!”
Chase snickered as he said, “You better hope those things don’t catch us, or you’re going to lose a lot more weight real fast.”
“Don’t worry, Gabe, we wouldn’t leave you behind,” Felicia assured him.
“It might slow them down a bit while they pick his bones clean,” Chase joked.
Chuck came to Gabe’s defense. “If you’re the next one with an arrow in your butt, you’re going to wish you had someone to take care of it. Of course, I’d be glad to yank it out.”
“Hurry up, Gabe,” Chase told him.
The sound of scores of claws scrabbling on the hard stone cut their banter was short. High-pitched squeaks resounded down the tunnel as the creatures used their sensitive ears to navigate through the darkness.
“Time to run again,” Josh needlessly informed the group.
“Hold on one second.” Ted said a quick incantation, and a hundred yards of the passageway filled with thick, sticky strands of cobwebs. “That should slow them down for a few minutes, I hope.”
The party began hustling down the tunnel as fast as their legs would carry them. Ted stopped after several minutes and filled the passage with more webs before running for their lives again. Once they heard the sounds of pursuit, Ted released a noxious cloud behind them, and soon they heard the creatures gagging and choking on the toxic fumes.
“That’s all I’ve got to slow them down. I have a few offensive spells left and that’s it,” Ted told the group.
“Then we run as long as we can and fight for our lives,” Josh informed them grimly.
Far too soon, the sounds of their pursuers reached their ears once more. It was only a matter of moments before they would be forced to fight relentless and far more numerous opponents.
“I think this is it. This is about as far as we are going to make it. Get ready to fight,” Josh warned his friends.
The passageway was steadily getting wider, the ceiling sloping upwards.
“Let’s make our stand here before the tunnel gets any bigger and allows them bring more of their numbers against us at once,” Phil advised.
Josh agreed with Phil, slid to a halt, and spun about with his sword in his hands next to Chuck and Phil. The vile creatures became visible as they ran within the radius of light. The party tightened their grips on their weapons and prepared to meet the charge of the merciless monsters.
The adventurers looked on in surprise as the creatures slid to a halt several yards away as if they had hit an invisible wall. Ted launched his last fireball into the group, burning scores of them to death. The tunnel filled with smoke and the smell of charred flesh even as more of the creatures piled forward to take the place of their fallen kin. However, none dared pass beyond whatever invisible boundary had been established.
“Let’s just back away slowly. I don’t know why they stopped, but I don’t want to encourage them by running or turning our backs to them,” Phil recommended.
The small troop backed slowly away as the cave creatures hissed and threw small stones, not daring to move toward them. The cave slowly expanded around them as they backed away, its walls and ceiling growing higher and farther apart with each step. Only when they came around a bend in the cave did they dare turn around and jog away at a quicker pace.
“Why do you think they stopped chasing us?” Chuck asked.
“Maybe they got a whiff of your breath,” Chase responded.
“Shut up, dweeb, I’m serious!”
“Who cares as long as they don’t change their mind?”
“Chuck actually has a good point,” Felicia replied. “Animals rarely give up the hunt unless their prey has eluded them, and they had us dead to rights. The only other reason I see for them to stop is if we entered the territory of a creature they were afraid of. Any creature that puts fear into those things so completely, I don’t want to meet.”
“Let’s just hope that whatever eats those things doesn’t eat people too,” Gabe muttered to himself.
The cave continued to grow until they found themselves in an enormous cavern that went on far beyond the range of their light. A huge, scaly head the size of a small car suddenly appeared out of the darkness. It dropped down out of the black gloom and hovered perhaps twenty feet above the ground, supported by a long neck that disappeared beyond the range of their light.
“Well well, what do we have here? It would appear some tiny yet tasty little humans have wandered into my home,” the huge head rumbled in a deep baritone.
The group froze in terror for several seconds until Josh’s shout broke the spell of fear. “Run! Run back toward the cavern!”
The humans turned and ran back the way they had come.
“It’s gone! The cave we came in is gone!” Phil shouted fearfully.
“That’s impossible! Caves don’t just disappear without some sort of cave-in!” Ted shouted back, nearly hysteric with fear.
The group ran along the cave wall, but they found nothing except solid stone where there had once been a large passageway just moments before.
“I am afraid there is no way out that direction any
longer,” the dragon said slyly as it stretched its huge head toward the humans, fixing them with its gaze.
The dragon was massive. It was so large, their light only revealed the front half of it. The creature was mostly a dark green while its underside was a deep blue. Twin spiny fins ran from just behind the heavy brow ridges, down the long neck, and presumably along the back. Large scales as hard as steel covered its entire enormous body.
In a moment of panic, Ted launched a spell at the huge form without even thinking. Four magical bolts struck the dragon right on the end of his massive snout. The dragon drew his head back and went into a sneezing fit, blowing large balls of fire out of his nose with each violent expulsion.
“Now stop that!” the dragon roared irritably with a large sniff. “If you cannot behave properly, then I’ll simply give you back to those nasty little lithonites.”
“Are you going to eat us?” Gabe stammered out.
“No, it would take too much time and effort to scrub you clean first. You are filthy and smell terrible,” the dragon replied with a deep grumble that may have been a chuckle.
“So you must be why those cave creatures, lithonites, didn’t keep chasing us. We were in your territory,” Phil conjectured.
“Quite right. The nasty little beasts are stringy and taste terrible,” the dragon sighed. “But, one must keep up pretenses lest they overrun my home like the roaches they are.”
“So are you a good dragon then?” Felicia asked.
“Good and bad are such relative terms, and far too vague to even begin to characterize a being of my magnitude. Do you consider yourselves good or evil?” the dragon queried, bringing its huge head down even closer to the still frightened humans huddled against the cavern wall.
“Good, I suppose,” Felicia answered hesitantly. “We don’t hurt or mistreat people unless they try to hurt us.”
The dragon looked at her with a sly glint in its huge eye. “Yet I am sure you have swatted bugs or swept down the webs of spiders in your home before. Would you not be seen as bad, or even evil, to those creatures if they the intelligence to understand such a concept?”
Felicia hesitated and digested the idea for a moment before answering. “I suppose we would seem bad to them.”
“So you see, such simple labels or descriptors cannot be so easily applied,” the dragon said triumphantly. “You could refer to me as enormous, powerful, beautiful, awe inspiring, or even god-like, but nothing so vague as good or evil.”
“Don’t forget modest,” Chase quipped under his breath.
“What was that? Oh yes, quite,” the dragon said dismissingly.
The humans started to relax enough to start thinking clearly. They were still unsure as to the dragon’s intent, but thought that they may be able to coax the dragon into letting them go without a fight; a fight in which they were certain they had no chance of prevailing.
“We thank you very much for saving us from those creatures. May we pass through your home? We only wish to get out of this mountain and back into the outdoors,” Felicia beseeched the giant creature.
The dragon looked pensive for a moment before answering. “I would offer you a trade. In exchange for saving your insignificant little lives and passage through my home, you will entertain me for a time.”
“What would you like from us? How can we entertain you?” Felicia asked, hoping they could appease the huge dragon.
“First, I would like a song or music. Then you may tell me why you are here and where you are going. Regale me with your tales and you may enjoy my hospitality before you depart.”
Felicia combed her memory for a song but her nervousness caused her to come up blank. She never was much into singing or music. She could not think of a single song she knew all the words to other than a few children’s songs she remembered from when she was little, and she doubted the dragon would be very impressed with those.
Just as the silence was becoming awkward, a sharp, clear alto singing Oh Holy Night filled the vast chamber. All eyes turned toward Gabe, who had his eyes closed and was singing the song in such a pure voice that everyone was shocked into total silence. Even the dragon seemed enraptured by the haunting melody, not even blinking until the song ended.
“Wow, Gabe, I never knew you could sing like that,” Chase said to his friend.
“Yeah, nothing drives the bullies away like a clumsy fat kid singing C-sharp,” Gabe remarked, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the sudden attention.
“Your song was…sufficient. Come sit down, and tell me your tale. I will warm the chamber for your comfort,” the dragon invited.
The party walked deeper into the enormous cavern, found several large stones to sit on or against, and made themselves as comfortable as they could. As they pulled out some trail rations, the dragon placed a huge, scaly, talon-tipped hand against the wall and hissed several strange words. The stone all around them began to emit a strong but comfortable heat, warming them enough to allow them to take off their armor and heavy winter clothing.
“I am called Cillandril in your tongue. I am one of the most ancient of my kind. The few of us who are left, that is. Make yourselves comfortable, and tell me what brings you to cross under the mountains and into my lair,” the dragon urged, eager to hear a tale or two to break its boredom.
Phil began the recitation of their tale to their gargantuan host. “Our friend, Drew, found an old book and a place he said was once a place of power. The book told him how to create a rune on the floor and open a portal from our world to this one. None of us really took it seriously or thought it would work until it opened up and pulled him through.”
“So you have traveled from another world. I am very glad I did not eat you now,” Cillandril rumbled approvingly. “It would have been a terrible waste of a good story. Please, continue.”
“We went after him, but more time had passed here for him than for us back on our side of the portal, and he was taken by Goblins to be given to someone by the name of Darkrell.”
“I have heard this name. He sent envoys to request some sort of alliance with me and to assist him in taking over the human lands,” Cillandril told his guests.
“What did you do?” Ted asked.
“I chewed it over for a while and declined his invitation,” the dragon responded slyly.
“So you didn’t care for his offer then?”
“On the contrary, I thought they were delicious.”
The humans gave the joke a laugh more out of courtesy than finding any real humor in the macabre jest. Phil continued to relate their story to the dragon.
“When we came through, we were attacked by goblins but beat them with the help of a druid and some rangers. That was when Ted and Gabe found they could use magic in this world. We trained with the rangers and the druid for a few days to better prepare ourselves in our quest to rescue Drew.” The dragon looked pensive, but he allowed the human to continue talking without interruption. “Elderin, the druid, told us that only Drew could open the way back to our world, and that he needed the book to do it. So once we find him, he can open the gate again and we can all go home.”
Cillandril snorted. “Of course, the portal is linked to his blood, and only he can open the way to the same energy node. You do realize that you are providing Darkrell with the one thing he lacks to open the portal himself and either exploit your world or bring things back here in order to conquer this one?” the dragon mused.
“We know, but we have to find Drew. We can’t just leave him here.”
“It is a noble concept; one that, quite honestly, is rather lost on me. Tell me of your adventures since coming to this world.”
The group told him of their battles with orcs, giants, and cave dwellers and how they managed to escape. Cillandril was impressed with their fighting prowess and Ted’s use of wizardry.
“And there is no magic in your world you say? Yet you are most proficient with it. You must have quite a powerful mind for one so young and racially challen
ged.”
Ted looked up sharply at the dragon’s comment. “What do you mean, racially challenged? A black kid can’t be a wizard? I guess all wizards have to be white with long grey beards and pointy hats!” Ted exclaimed angrily.
“I meant human,” the dragon explained, confused by the small dark skinned boy’s outburst.
“Oh, sorry,” Ted apologized sheepishly.
“What did I say?”
“Nothing,” Felicia assured the dragon, “Ted’s just a little sensitive sometimes, and we’re all tired and more than a bit out of our element.”
The humans took turns telling their host about their world. They told him about cars, airplanes, and the internet as well as the different cultures and their history. The discussion went on for hours until exhaustion finally claimed the humans and they fell asleep, thankful not to have to post a guard, and for having a warm place to sleep for once.
The party woke to the smell of food cooking over an open fire. Cillandril sat with the haunch of a large animal skewered on one of his long, sharp claws and roasted it over a fire he must have carried logs in to make. The humans were amazed that a creature so large could move so quietly as to do all that without waking them.
“Ah, you are all awake. I was fortunate to find a herd of elk grazing and was able to grab two of the beasts in one pass,” the dragon said, quite proud of his catch. “I thought you may like something fresh for a change before you depart.”
“That smells wonderful, thank you,” Felicia smiled appreciatively at the offer.
As the humans dined on chunks of fresh-cooked elk, Cillandril told them of the land beyond. “To the southwest, perhaps two days by foot, you will find a large human town. You should be able to find food and lodging, as well as whatever else you might require within. Be careful. Much of this land lies under the power of Darkrell. He may have agents looking for you if he knows you seek your friend. Especially if he thinks you carry the book.”
The party finished their meal and began packing up their equipment. The dragon pointed the way out as each of the humans thanked him for his hospitality.
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